A pro-government Congolese militia — one of several factions in the Mai-Mai ethnic group — has retracted claims that South Africa is smuggling weapons into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in collusion with mercenaries.
This came after the South African component of Third Party Verification Mechanism (TPVM) took up the matter, TPVM co-chair Billy Masetlha said on Friday.
He said in Pretoria people with ”suspicious objectives” appeared to have supplied the information that led to the accusations by Mai-Mai commander Konga Kanape early last month.
Kanape commands Mai-Mai units in the Maniema region in the eastern corner of the DRC.
He claimed South African mercenaries were training rebels in Kindu to use the smuggled weapons, and demanded an international probe into the matter.
”Otherwise, I will order my men to attack those positions and recover the weapons,” Kanape said.
Masetlha said in a statement that the South African government took the allegations seriously, especially in view of Kanape’s threats.
Set up last year to monitor the withdrawal of foreign troops from the DRC, the TPVM held three extensive sessions with Kanape last month.
”It was agreed he would visit Kindu with representatives of the South African government and invite the United Nations to participate in the verification of these allegations.”
Masetlha said this happened on Monday and Tuesday this week, partly coinciding with a visit to the DRC by South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota.
”At the end… Mr Kanape issued a retraction of his allegations of South African government collusion with mercenaries… and the smuggling of weapons and ammunition to Kindu.”
Masetlha said Kanape now understood the SA National Defence Force was in the DRC as part of Monuc, the UN peacekeeping mission in that country.
It was not acting as an independent force under the command of the South African government.
”It was therefore necessary for him [Kanape], from now henceforth, to liaise with Monuc should he have misgivings about the conduct of the South African component.”
Lekota was fully briefed on the investigation and its findings.
Masetlha said it appeared that Kanape’s initial information did come from his own units — ”but from other people outside Maniema whose interests and objectives are suspicious”.
South Africa was grateful for Kanape’s honesty and his willingness to accompany the country’s team to Kindu, which for the Mai-Mai was in enemy territory, Masetlha said. – Sapa